Preservation in the face of climate change
What is the value of a forest? How can we measure the value of something like an ecosystem or an entire way of life?
These are some of the questions that drive the research of Felix Westeren, a PhD student in LSE’s Department of Government and recipient of the KAUTE Foundation scholarship. We spoke with Felix about his research and its importance in creating climate policy.
What is your research about?
I study climate policy and how to preserve the things we care about in the face of climate change.
A lot of climate policy aims to preserve as much value as possible, both for people living today as well as for people in the future. We’re already losing lots of valuable things because of the effects of climate change – buildings, animal lives, and even human lives, not to mention less tangible things like biodiversity and natural landscapes.
Most climate policies make assumptions about value – that’s inevitable, but policymakers need to be more explicit about these assumptions in their proposals. How are we weighing the value of something irreplaceable, like a landscape, compared with something more tangible like a building? How much importance should we give to the needs of people today compared with those of people in the future? We need to understand these assumptions because otherwise, the policies can’t really be evaluated.
Why did you choose to study value in relation to climate policy at LSE?
I studied economics and political philosophy as an undergraduate and then pursued a master’s degree in political philosophy here at LSE, with a focus on value in relation to the welfare state. I chose to continue here for my PhD as well but shifted my focus to climate policy because it’s a subject I’ve always felt strongly about.
I knew when I applied that LSE offers really good funding opportunities compared to other universities. I wouldn’t have been able to pursue my PhD without the KAUTE Foundation scholarship I received. A PhD is a massive undertaking, not to mention the cost of living in London, and the scholarship has really made it possible for me to focus on my research and teaching.
What questions about value do we need to answer to create better climate policy?
There are several important ways that understanding value can create better climate policy. One is that it helps us clearly and honestly discuss the trade-offs inherent in the decisions we make. For example, in areas threatened by rising sea levels, certain mitigation strategies, like planting natural seagrasses, better preserve coastal ecosystems but offer less protection for human settlements. Other measures, like flood walls and levies, provide more reliable protection for infrastructure but have a more destructive impact on plant and animal life. Deciding which of these things to prioritize is, ultimately, a question of the relative value we assign to them.
Developing a more thorough understanding of what different communities value can also ensures that policies account for potential losses that may otherwise have been overlooked. If climate policies lead to people losing jobs – for instance, towns that originally developed around coal mines - it’s important to help those people find new work and develop new skills, but that alone might not be enough.
We also need to consider how we can help communities to function as they did before, to the extent that that’s possible. Can we offer new jobs that won’t force people to relocate or commute to the city, for example, so that they can preserve their existing way of life without a coal mine at the centre? In many ways, that matters just as much as the economic piece.
What has surprised you most in doing this research?
One noteworthy thing I’ve found that makes me feel optimistic is that people in general seem to be more altruistic than we might otherwise expect. When you ask people about what they value in relation to climate change, the results suggest that people aren’t only motivated to support climate policies for reasons of self-interest.
Even people in countries and regions least likely to suffer the worst effects of climate change tend to express support for climate policies that protect others. I think that’s something we ought to talk more about and to take greater advantage of in shaping and promoting climate policy.
